Outdoor Events & Advance Ticket Sales

I’m amazed at how many people get offended when the “one-time visitor” stat is brought to their attention. The typical response, “that’s not possible on our website, everyone tells us how great it looks!” Then, they go check their web stats. At that moment of truth, the Luke Skywalker (Episode V) response kicks in, “No. No. That’s not true. That’s impossible!” If you don’t believe me, ok! Please go check your web stats and let me know what you find.

If you’re using Google Analytics … you can find this info under Audience > Behavior > Frequency & Recency. While you’re in the Behavior tab, make sure to review your Engagement stats.

Engagement leads to the deadliest component of the “poison!” Of the 100% of visitors to an event website, approximately 40-50% spending LESS THAN 10 seconds on the site. That’s a devastating metric! There is little to nothing you can do with a website visitor in less than 10 seconds.

Let me offer you an "antidote" to the dire website visitor statistics. You need to either generate a lead or a ticket sale from your event website. Ideally both! There is no wiggle room here. Ask yourself:

• How many website leads did you collect via your website today?
  
  
• How many ticket sales did you generate today?

If your daily number is zero (on a regular basis) for both questions above, your event is probably in serious financial trouble.

In March’s E-P-R print newsletter, we’ll dive deep into a process that the Canadian International Airshow used in 2009 to overcome the horrible reality above. As a result, the Canadians generated over 7,500 online leads and turned those leads into $64,000 CAD of ticket sales in less than 60 days. All without Facebook, Instagram, Twitter … or spending a single cent on advertising!

To be clear, I cannot promise you the same extraordinary results. The Canadians did receive significant traffic to their website. Other events, outside of the air show industry, have SOLD OUT their events using the same strategy. You just need enough website traffic. It would be a huge mistake for any event organizer not to implement the same strategy!

Want to get more info on designing a money making event website? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups